Blue Pancakes (No Dye!)

Homemade blue pancakes are a wonderful treat or a fun breakfast idea. Ready in under 10 minutes, these pancakes are naturally gluten-free and made with no artificial dye.

Jump to:

• ⭐Why you will love this recipe
• 🥘Ingredients
• ⏲️How to make blue pancakes
• ♨️Tips for success
• 🔪Recommended equipment
• 📋Recipe variations
• 🌡️How to store and reheat
• 🍲Other sweet and healthy breakfast ideas
• 📖 Recipe

⭐Why you will love this recipe

• no artificial dyes or food coloring - blue spirulina will add natural color.
• this fluffy pancake recipe is gluten and dairy free.
• picky eaters will be excited to try these awesome pancakes.
• this pancake recipe is great for holidays such as Halloween (add some googly eyes or sprinkles) or the 4th of July (use beetroot juice or powder to make the red pancakes).

🥘Ingredients

• Oat Flour - I used store-bought gluten-free oat flour. You can easily make your own by grinding some quick or rolled oats into fine flour using a high-speed blender or food processor. If you are gluten sensitive make sure to use certified GF Oats.
• Baking Powder - It helps pancakes to rise. Instead, you can mix a teaspoon of baking soda with a tablespoon of vinegar to create a bubbly leavening agent.
• Salt - I always add a little bit of salt for the taste.
• Eggs - You can use room temperature or cold eggs.
• Coconut Milk - either plain or sweetened coconut milk. You can use any other plant-based milk instead.
• Granulated Sugar - To sweeten the pancakes. These pancakes are not very sweet, add more sugar to the batter if needed. You can use dark-brown coconut sugar instead, although it may change the pancake's color when mixed with spirulina.
• Vanilla - Vanilla extract for taste
• Blue Spirulina - This blue algae is a great alternative to food coloring. It has such a vibrant blue color making it so much fun to cook with. Blue spirulina is considered a superfood and has amazing health benefits. No need to use those artificial food dyes.
• Butter or Cooking Spray ( for cooking) - Use a little bit of unsalted butter, coconut oil, or cooking spray to cook the pancakes.

See the recipe card for quantities.

⏲️How to make blue pancakes

• Mix Dry Ingredients - in a medium bowl, add oat flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk briefly to combine.

• Mix Wet Ingredients - in a second bowl, add eggs, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat well to combine.

• Combine - mix dry and wet ingredients. Use a wooden or silicone spoon to combine until you have a thick batter, that easily drips off the spoon. Do not over-mix it, The batter may remain a little bit runny because the oat flour will thicken. You can add a little bit more coconut milk if it becomes very thick by the time you cook it.

• Add Blue Spirulina - now, the fun part - adding the blue color to the pancake batter. Start with adding a teaspoon of spirulina to the mix. Mix it well into your batter using a spatula or a spoon until it becomes one beautiful blue color.

Note: One teaspoon of spirulina will make a batter light blue. If you want the dark blue pancakes, add another teaspoon of spirulina powder. You can make different shades of blue by adding some extra spirulina to each batch. 

• Cook the Pancakes: add some butter to a large nonstick skillet and heat it on low-medium heat. Once hot, turn the heat to low and add large spoonfuls of the pancake blue batter and cook for 2-3 minutes flipping halfway through.

• Serve: Serve these pancakes with chocolate or maple syrup, some fresh berries, or seasonal fresh fruit.

Note: this recipe yields 6 medium pancakes. It is enough for 2 small servings. You can make pancakes smaller or larger.

♨️Tips for success

• do not make the batter too thick - leave it just a little bit runny, the oat flour will thicken up when mixed with liquids.
• use white granulated sugar - darker sugar or liquid dark sweetener might change the color.
• start with one teaspoon of spirulina, for darker blue pancakes add more.
• it's better to cook these pancakes on low heat to preserve the blue color.
• for thick pancakes - cover the pan with the lid when cooking.
• to make natural colored red, white and blue pancakes - divide the batter into three equal parts. Keep the first one as it is, add some beetroot powder to the second one and blue spirulina to the third one.
• the pancakes might look browned on top with just little blue tint, but they will have brighter blue edges and the inside.

🔪Recommended equipment

• Mixing Bowls - You will two separate bowls to mix the dry and wet ingredients.
• Nonstick pan - You will not need too much oil or butter when using a nonstick pan. You can also use an electric griddle.

📋Recipe variations

Vegan: replace eggs with some chia seed or flax egg.

Add mix-ins: add some frozen or fresh blueberries to the batter. They will make your pancakes even bluer. Some chocolate chips are also a great idea.

Flours: you can use whole wheat or all-purpose flour if you prefer more traditional pancakes.

🌡️How to store and reheat

The leftover pancakes will remain fresh in the refrigerator, in an airtight container for up 3 days. Use a non-stick pan (preferred method) or microwave to reheat them.

You can freeze these pancakes in ziplock bags for up to 2 months.

🍲Other sweet and healthy breakfast ideas

• Beetroot waffles
• Oat milk pancakes
• Apple banana carrot muffins (ABC muffins)
• Dairy-free blueberry muffins

📖 Recipe